Aphasia Snapshot Results: Do You Know Other People With Aphasia

We’re excited to reveal the results of our first Aphasia Snapshot. We asked people with aphasia if they know other people with aphasia. This is what they said.

Beyond yourself, do you know other people with aphasia? (Example: It can be a friend or family member, someone you’ve spoken to at your clinic or support group, or a member of your local community.)

41.1% do not know another person with aphasia, while 58.9% know at least one other person with aphasia.

How important do you think it is to know other people with aphasia?

Most people (67.9%) thought knowing other people with aphasia was very important. A smaller percentage—30.4%—thought it was somewhat important. Only 1.8% of participants thought it was not important at all.

If you know someone with aphasia, do they have the same type of aphasia as you do? (Example: You have primary progressive aphasia, and you know at least one other person with primary progressive aphasia.)

The largest percentage of participants (44.6%) didn’t know anyone else with aphasia. Whereas 28.6% knew someone with a different type of aphasia, and 26.8% knew someone with the same type of aphasia.

How important do you think it is to know other people with the same type of aphasia as you have?

While 8.9% didn’t believe it was important to know other people with the same type of aphasia, 44.6% thought it was somewhat important and 46.6% thought it was very important.

Where have you met other people with aphasia? (Check all that apply.)

People met other people:

Through therapy (36.4%)
Through a support group (43.6%)
Through the NAA chats (18.2%)
Through a different online chat (16.4%)
Through a family member or friend (18.2%)

40% said they never met another person with aphasia through any of these spaces.

How often do you interact with other people who have aphasia?

People interacted with other people who have aphasia at different frequencies.

Daily (14.3%)
Weekly (25%)
Monthly (5.4%)
A few times per year (12.5%)
Never (42.9%)

What are the benefits of knowing another person with aphasia? Or, if you don’t know anyone with aphasia, what do you think would be the biggest benefits for you? (Check all that apply.)

There were many benefits to knowing other people with aphasia.

We’ve made the results available as a downloadable PDF in case you want to discuss the answers offline.

We take a new community snapshot each month. If you would like to participate, please go to the current questions that are all about COVID-19 and the impact on our community. They are open until April 23, 2021.